Laser printers and other, similar image forming systems form images on paper or other media using electrostatically charged toner particles, which usually include pigment and plastic. Paper with a temporary toner image is fed through a fuser, which melts the plastic in the toner, and pushes the melted plastic and pigment into the paper to form a permanent image.
Fuser assemblies in many printers tend to require relatively frequent replacement compared to some other printer components. Determining why a particular fuser requires replacement can be difficult, however, because most conventional printers do not provide a way to determine the conditions under which a failed fuser assembly was used.